Her Story - My Story

“What if her story were my story?” I often ask myself this question when I’m reading a book. What would I do if I were in her shoes?

At our church’s recent world-wide general conference we were asked to consider the refuges throughout the world and ponder “What if their story were my story?” What can we do to reach out to refugees? Said Linda Burton, Relief Society general president, “This is an opportunity to serve one-on-one, in families, and by organizations to offer friendship, mentoring, and other Christlike service and is one of many ways sisters can serve.”

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were often refugees at the beginning of the church in the United States. Driven from Kirtland, Ohio, they gathered in Missouri. In 1837-1838 they were forced out of Missouri and fled to Illinois. Kind citizens in Quincy, Illinois took in the refugees. Eventually settling in Nauvoo, Illinois, they enjoyed a few years of prosperity before being being forced to leave Nauvoo in the middle the brutal cold of February 1846. This was the exodus of thousands of people who eventually ended up in what now is Utah, but then was outside the United States. 

Click here for video "When We Were Strangers"

A highlight of the meeting was a women’s choir made up of women, many of them refugees, from more than 50 countries. They are our sisters. Their stories are important for us to learn – for they could be our stories. We are all children of God. 

Click here for video "I Was A Stranger: Love One Another"

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